Bittersweet Memories
by Flame Falcon
Summary: Memories. Everyone has them. Some of them are good, others not so much. As Ike reflects on his time as an Ambassador to Hyrule, he recalls all of the memories. The good and the bad all form together as he recalls how he fell for a young Princess, and unwittingly caused the death of many others. And he knows what course of action needs to be done to move past the memories.
1. Part I

**Well, after some consideration with a few close friends of mine, I came up with this story. The rating is susceptible to change, depending on how the story goes. Any way, this is a much more serious and darker story than my previous ones. But I hope you enjoy it. Please review and tell me what you think.**

* * *

The clouds began to obscure what was left of the dying afternoon sun. The rumbling off in the distance was all Ike could here, but he didn't move. He stood where he was on the dock on Lake Hylia, looking as the last ray of the blood red sun fell. He felt moisture on his face as he bated his eyes. Was it tears, sweat or the rain that began to fall? The blistering hot humidity would make it seem like it was the last two, but Ike knew he would be lying to himself if he denied the first.

Could he have prevented this from happening? Could he have saved _her _from herself? The questions were pointless and trivial, ultimately borec ones. No man should question the alternative choices of the past as he has no power in his hands to change it. What passed was passed, though it did not mean that he was bitter about the whole situation. Just as much with her as he was with himself.

He looked down into his hand and saw a token, a memento of sorts, that she gifted to him on his first day in the lands. It was a golden pendent, a Crimean rose interwoven with three small triangles, symbolizing the unity as part of his position he accepted on that faithful day. He could here Elincia's voice in his mind as she told him of what needed to be done.

"_Now my Lord Ike, you must understand that this is not a battlefield I am sending you into. Well, in a sense it is, after all. Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed. I need you to use your words and manners as skilful as you would use Ragnell in battle. The only reason I am sending you and not Bastian is your... presence gives you more leverage._"

The rain began to fall much more frequently and the winds picked up too. He instinctively pulled his cape closer around him, but his face was still battered.. He ran his fingers over the pendent and scraped the back of his mind, trying to find out what exactly in the name of the Goddesses how he did not see this coming. He was there, he should have seen the signs, picked up a hint or two that she was going to do something. But he couldn't.

Ike, despite his vows of independence and not getting to attached, couldn't help but find himself smitten on the sight of her for the first time. She was, in every sense of the word, a paragon of beauty. Her voice was smoother than the finest honey, and her scent of exotic flowers threatened to overload him. It took all of his willpower not to look like a complete ape in front of her and the council.

He kept those feelings safe from her, knowing that they were not his to share openly with her. His duty was to Crimea and all other things, even his own indulgences, were to be second compared to that. In the truth of everything, he tried his best to keep his new found profession and personal life aside, but he did slip up on more than one occasion

"_Tell me, ambassador, what would be your proposed idea in dealing with the international trade with your Kingdom? As it stands, my tariffs will remain in place so long as yours are. My nation cannot afford to pay such outstanding rates without doing the same to recover some of our funds." She said as she leaned over the desk with a glass of sharp spiced wine in her hands._

_Ike looked over the piles of parchment and pulled one free, which caused the rest of it to fall down. He bit back a curse, remembering where he was and who he shared his presence with. He looked over the parchment and began to make the needed numbers. Despite his position as a mercenary, he wasn't a bloody idiot who could only count to twenty if he was barefoot. "Well, milady, as it stands you charge far more for Crimean imports then we do for your exports. Ranging anywhere from twenty to thirty percent in most cases. If you lowered your tariffs to our rate, I can guarantee that trade would increase by at least threefold."_

_She smiled, something that told him he either made a fool of himself, she was amused or all of them at once. "Well then ambassador, what else do you think?"_

"_That dress really shows off your assets." He muttered as he scratched a few numbers on another piece of paper._

_She looked to him with a perplexed look. "Did you say something, ambassador Ike?"_

_He laughed quietly to himself. "No Princess Zelda. I didn't say anything."_

He smiled bittersweetly at the memory. The first time he tried to make his feelings known to her, and he backtracked as if he was admitting some childhood crush. The temperature began to drop slowly, but noticeably. Ike could see his breath in front of him but he did not move from where he was standing. He played with the talisman in his hand and looked out at the lake. He laughed bitterly at the situation before him. The laughter was mixed with a grim satisfaction and pain along with the realization that he was fate's play thing.

He sat down at the edge of the dock, now barely able to see two feet in front of him, save the occasional flash of lightning or so. He came to this place to find peace, though it was not that same peaceful night a few months ago when he first found the lake. He lived in the the castle with all of the other ministers, so the lake was roughly a few kilometres away. When he needed to clear his head of problems that threatened to have him lose what was left of his patience, he knew a relaxing swim under the moon and stars would soon clear his mind.

One one of those nights however, after a particularly hard day of political muscle flexing and threats, he went out to the lake and found company. Zelda was there, dressed in a night gown that could pass off for swim wear. Ike was about to leave her, when she pleaded with him to stay. He was reluctant, explaining that him, a borec ambassador, should not be seeing the Princess outside of the castle.

She laughed him off, telling him that she was always outside of the castle, and paid time to visit each of the foreign ambassadors that her kingdom accepted. Reluctantly, and with much hesitance, Ike agreed to do so. The water was warmed by the sun during the day and even when it set, there was still plenty of heat left in it.

It was the first time Ike saw Zelda outside of politics, and she was without a doubt a very gregarious person. The initial feeling of awkwardness and shame were quickly wiped away as they enjoyed themselves in the lake. No guards, no formal titles, no paper work... it seemed to last forever. And even as the rain whipped around him now, Ike could still remember her and how she ended the night.

"_Ike, you are not like the other ministers Crimea has sent to my kingdom. And I mean that as a compliment. Either they are yes-men or so stubborn that it is either their way or nothing." She spoke to him as she held their bodies close together. "But I don't think you are an ambassador, not the usual profile. You are too kind and thoughtful, even open to both sides and trying to find a solution that would please both parties. You are a mercenary, I figured that much out of you and I still do not understand why you were given this position."_

_Ike looked down to her, wrapping his arms around her as she did to the back of his neck. "I was selected because of my character, your majesty. Not for my training or blood line. The Queen also knows that my bulk can be quite convincing and I can see it is working on you princess." She clicked her tongue in annoyance when he spoke her title and not her name. _

"_Just shut up and kiss me, mercenary." She told him, and she pulled him in closer and time seemed to have froze while they shared that moment together. There was only them, and no one else. Just her soft lips against his. For that moment in time, there was nothing else._

The same dock where he was on right now was the same one they spent time on. Over a period of weeks, what started out as a smile out of the corner of her lips and hands that somehow managed to intertwine with each other became something much more. Notes passed in books became the main way they made their feelings know to each other wen they were not in private. She even allowed Mist and her daughter to come visit him on more then one occasion. Something she only allowed other ambassadors to do on the important holidays of the kingdom.

And before either one of them knew it, they were really close. Closer then either of them had ever gotten before. On more then one night, expressions they could not find the words for found another way to be expressed. Each time was more expressive than the last, and both of them felt as if they were destined for each other.

Ike should have seen it coming, but goddesses damn it, he was too blind. He didn't know exactly where to start, but ultimately it was when she was asking more direct questions. Their conversations turned from generalization to specifics. And it was about his kingdom none of the less. Questions of history became more direct questions of resources and military power of Crimea. At first Ike thought of it as nothing, merely the princess wanted to know more about his nation so rifts could be sealed between the two kingdoms.

Other things began to change as well, and not just their conversations. The letters from back home were becoming more grim and rumours were spreading like wildfire back home about many things. What was his version of a wake up call was the day he received a letter from Lucia. He read the note with a shaky hand. There was no preamble, no greetings, or anything else that was in her previous letter. It was honest and brutally to the point.

He read through the letter and felt anger and rage build up inside of him as every word betrayed his very world around him. All he could think about was what he unwittingly done to his kingdom, that he was such a fool to allow himself to... to have her blood on his hands.

He couldn't remember leaving his room.

He didn't recall how he got past the guards.

He chose not to note what she was wearing when he swung the doors open.

All he remembered was the conversation they had.

"_Ike, I know you must be full of pain but you are overreacting-"_

"_Overreacting?OVERREACTING!? No, Princess, if anything I am far too composed to what happened and the way I am acting now. What the hell happened to the Zelda I knew and I loved?! This... this... this is nothing she would do!"_

_She looked at him with a pair of solid emerald eyes, set harder the metal. "Then perhaps you do not know what she is truly capable of. What happened was a means to the end. I will not see Hyrule become nothing more than a pacifistic state bound to the whims of every other nation. We need to show that we can and will do what is necessary to secure our place in the annals of history besides being a pushover."_

_Ike felt as if he had been stabbed. "You... you used me. You used me as a person, my position... EVEN MY OWN SISTER! Have you no decency!? We were nothing more then stones for you to step on to get what you wanted? The words you said to me, the things we did to cement those words, were they all false? Were they just to gain my trust?"_

_Zelda was about to respond when Ike held up a hand to her. "It doesn't matter now does it? What has been said is said and what is done is done. You have made your decision."_

_He turned around and walked away, ignoring the pleads form behind him._

And now he was here, looking out on the same Lake where Ike thought that life was going to be different from here on out. That he would make a difference for Crimea that was not on the battle field or in Tellius, but far beyond it's borders. To bring healing to two nations who at long last showed some sign of unity.

But in the end, he did more harm then there was to begin with.

It looked at the pendent one last time and with a cry of rage, tossed it into the lake. The golden medallion skipped across the water twice in the lightning before it sunk to the turned away from the docks, his cape soaked in rain and his clothes were just about to get wet. He entered a small hut and rekindled the fire with in it. Soon it was burning hot and bright, just like the rage inside of him

In time the army would come and he would be at the head of it when it did. He was going to kill Zelda himself, and he didn't want to fight a cold while he was at it.


	2. Part II

Zelda sighs with some disappointment as the smell of burning bodies wafted to her nose. She would have hoped her army would have put up a better fight than that. Still, even though the armies of Crimea were inside of the castle itself, she smirked. All was going just as planned. All she needed to do was wait for him to show up.

She stroked her greatest weapon she had against him, and looked over her private chamber. She knew that it would surely be the last time she would be it. She wasn't toying with the idea the armies would just part ways and leave them. Not even Link, who was certainly dying from the slit throat the new queen of Crimea gave him, believed that there was no going back from what she was doing. Still, even though she sacrificed her oldest friend, it was for the greater good. All of this was done for it.

She heard a mass of footsteps charge away from her door as there was the scream of primal rage coming towards her. She sat down in her chair and pulled a glass of spiced wine as the sounds of battle echoed outside her door. She drank from her glass, chastising her self that she shouldn't but then again this would be one of the last times she would have the chance to do so.

The screams of the dying replaced the sound of steel and she new that she had to make herself presentable to her executioner. As the boot slammed itself against the door, she tied her hair back into the two descending braids he had grown accustomed to seeing. She made sure the dress was presentable, no wrinkles or constricting her movements.  
The boot slammed against the door again and the door cried out in pain. The hinges would last no more. One more kick and it would open. She finished the glass and tossed it against the wall where it shattered into a dozen little crystals. They caught the light of the fires perfectly and shined like cut diamonds.

The door crashed down and she turned her attention back to him. He had changed much since she had last seen him. He was covered in dirt, blood dripping from the many exposed wounds on his body that were in various stages of healing. His hair was tied back and he was breathing heavily. Anger or exhaustion? A combination of the two was a more realistic answer. "It's over, Harkinian. Come peacefully and I can promise you a fair trial."

She clicked her tongue. "What did I tell you, ambassador? I hate my last name, and you will call me by my first name if not by my title."

Ike growled, raising his sword from a defensive posture to that of an offensive. "Silence your tongue, murderess." Oh, he was getting feisty. She loved him when he was like this. "Or I shall do that myself."

"With what, your own tongue?" She taunted him. She could smell the adrenaline rush through his veins and his blood boiling with anger. "I guess this is where we reach that certain part of our tale where I reveal all why I did the things I did."

Gritting his teeth, Ike used all of his will power from not braking down in front of her. He blinked away what wetness he had forming at the edge of his eyes and uttered one word. "Why?"

She smiled, it was an ugly one that shook the souls of the most devout, and brought her fingers together. "For the greater good. That reason alone."

"The greater good?" Ike reacted as if he heard complete gibberish. "The greater good!? Zelda, I don't know if you lost your sight as well as your mind! Look around you! Hyrule is ablaze, Queen Lucia beheaded your Lord General Link, and your army has been reduced to a tenth! Where is the greater good in that?"

"Everything you just stated." She replied as she rose from her seat and returned to the window to look out of it. "Hyrule has been broken, like chaff before the wind. It is something that needs to happen and it is fortunate that you have done it. You have my eternal gratitude."

"What? You wanted this to happen!? This can't be the Zelda I knew and I loved! What do you mean?"

She chuckled. "Oh, Ike. What doesn't destroy us makes us stronger. Give or take thirty years of foreign oppression, my people will rise up and destroy the Crimean Empire and take their lands for ourselves. Hyrule has been degrading ever since I came to power seventy-eight years ago. I can wait that time for us to retake our former glory."

Ike was still unhinged by what she was saying. "All of this... the death, destruction, and lives of our people ruined was just for that?"

"Why else would I have invited your sister to my home? I needed one final pawn for my game. Her mind was an easy one. The thoughts and impulse was elementary. By the size of your army you brought, I can see she killed the queen with extreme violence. Did her head roll for what she did?" Zelda asked.

Ike felt the blood rush back into anger. His sister was a pawn, and he should have realized it was so. He should have told her to stay away, to leave him to his duties. But he was so blinded by the illusion of false trust that he was her undoing. Shortly after she returned and was giving a debriefing to the royal council, she ran Elincia through on her own throne. When her senses came back, she was devastated as Elincia forgave her as she died. Lucia killed her on the spot, separating the head from the jaw. Mist was posthumously exonerated of the crime once the magics were revealed, but the pain was still raw and fresh. "You bitch! I will not allow you to take one more breath of life!"

Zelda smirked from the corner of her lips. "Oh you can't and you won't kill me."

"Watch me." Ike growled and charged at Zelda. She looked surprise for a second before she summoned a sword of pure ethereal energy. The sword absorbed the kinetic energy and held it's own against Ragnell. "Still using your sorcery?"

"How else will I compensate for fighting brutes like your kind?" Zelda responded and pushed back against him. Ike lost his footing but regained it in less then a second. That did give time for Zelda to ready her blade once again and it was her turn to go on the offensive. She slammed it against his sword and the sound of steel echoed from around them. Each one fought with unbridled zeal and fury, though anger was by far the most evident in their emotions.

While his sword was a mighty claymore, hers was more akin to a longsword. He fought like a bear, strong and powerful, while she preferred to attack like the agile tiger. As they traded blows, each one knew that it would end with the other's heart becoming still.

Slicing nothing but air as she jumped back, Zelda readied herself once again and charged Ike. Ike lowered his sword into a defensive position and rammed it forward. The attack opened him to her sword but she would suffer an injury as well. Ragnell then feasted upon warm flesh while Zelda got a pretty deep cut along the length of his arm. Ike grunted in pain and Zelda forced a grimace. The two circled each other with their swords at the ready.

Eventually, Zelda began to laugh. It was an empty laugh without any sort of humor, causing Ike to arch an eyebrow. "Oh, Ike. Where we dance at the edge of fortune while I realize that no matter who dies, I win."

"With you dead, Hyrule will be leaderless. With you dead, your line will be forgotten from the annals of history. I do not see any way you could win when I take your head from your shoulders." Ike stated.

Zelda smiled and reached in to a basket next to the window. She produced a bundle of cloth and began to unwrap it. Ike lowed his guard as she revealed what was in it. "What in the name of Yune is that?"

She chuckled as she held it close. "Your daughter, Ike." The words hit him like nothing could. Daughter... just thinking it made his head hurt. They only did it once, but Zelda probably wanted it to happen for what ever plan she had. She had the hazel eyes of Zelda, while there was a small crop of blue hair on the top of her head. "She is my ultiment weapon against you."

Ike paused for a moment and moved closer to get a better look, sword still at a guard position. She was maybe a week old at most, and despite the battle raging around her, she was fast asleep. "How is she to be my undoing?"

"Well, if you notice, there is a brand on her forehead, a memory rune if you can recall." Ike examined it and saw the Hylian rune in a birthmark color. "When she becomes of age, my memories will mix with hers and she will feel everything I felt about you as well as everyone you ever cared about. So long as your heart beats, she will turn on you. She will be your bane." Zelda stated as she rocked her daughter in her arms.

"But if you are dead, such things will not come to pass." Ike stated and readied his sword to strike her down. Zelda rolled her eyes and fired a blast of pure kinetic energy through her spare hand and slammed Ike against the wall, stunning him on the spot.

"Oh no. Even if you kill me, a huge if at that, my memories will transfer to her when she reaches her second decade of life. If your heart stops, the rune disappears and I can raise her as my own. Or you could kill her. But even a borec like yourself would never allow such a thing to even be considered." Ike came to his feel and reached for his sword.

"How do I know you are not lying to save your pathetic skull?"

Zelda placed the daughter down on the bed and mentally summoned Ragnell into her hands. It was a heavy sword, but she didn't mind. "I guess you will have to find out." Ike charged at her and she sidestepped, slicing his calf open down the middle. "But I will kill you with your own sword. There is a certain ironic twist to that I believe."

"Not if I can do anything about it." Ike saw a short sword lying on the ground near the door and tumbled towards it. Zelda casts her fingers forward and then she slammed the doors shut. She rushed forward and gripped Ike by the throat. "Quit toying with me, witch. Just kill me if you wish for it."

"Oh I will. But-" She tossed Ike aside with her arcane gifts, breaking three of his ribs in the fall. "I want you to suffer. You will be the first to suffer and then the rest the rest of the kingdom will soon enough."

She pinned him to the ground and laid Ragnell down next to him. Straddling him, she wrapped her fingers around his neck and slowly began to apply pressure. "It's a shame, you know that Ike?"

"What?" He said between gritted teeth and a snarl.

"That you could have seen your daughter when she would all be grown up. I will let you tell me one thing before I choke the life out of you. Tell me that and I will pass it on to her."

Ike felt tears burn the edge of his eyes as her grip tighten. All of this, all of it was for nothing. War brought only death and destruction. If Zelda wanted her kingdom to be restored, there were ways of peace. Why did she resort to war? Did she simply become jaded over her life time? All of those years while still being in her prime maybe caused her to lose all hope.

But their daughter would cause another war if something was done. If he died, Zelda would raise her in her image. If she died, their daughter would become like her. Ike closed his eyes, looking for the poison from what he would drink from.

He made his decision and made his move.

"What is it?" She asked as she tightened her grip even more. Ike squirmed and then stilled as he gave a single nod.

"Never leave your weapons out of arms reach!" Zelda arched an eyebrow in surprise. That soon became a look of fear as the sound of steel cutting through flesh. Blood fell out of her mouth as she saw Ragnell exploding through her chest.

She formed a surprise look as her blood drained from her when she saw what Ike did. He brought the sword around and rammed it through her back. But he drove it all the way through, and pierced his own heart. His own crimson life fluid began to spill freely. He pulled it free and rolled her off of him. "Ike... you will die from that wound."

He rose to his feet, quickening the blood flow. "So will you." He coughed up the blood and walked over to the bed, gripping the wall for support as he held his daughter for the first and last time. "She is so beautiful. With both of us dead, she will live a life of her own, free from both of our influence."

He walked back over and stood over Zelda for a moment. He then laid down next to her, and he looked into her eyes. She looked to him, and then to her daughter. Zelda looked into his eyes and shed a single tear of repentance. "I wanted only the best for my kingdom. I should have realized I would create her. With the most courageous man I know."

He helped her head to his chest as they looked together at their daughter. "So, what is her name?"

"I never gave her one. You have the honors."

Ike thought for a moment, and then brought his daughter to his lips, kissing her forehead. "Amani... peace in the old Hylian tongue."

Zelda nodded. "A good name." She wrapped one of her hands around one of Ike's. "I must go now. Will you be there when I wake up?"

As his eye lids grew heavy, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips one last time. "I will be there." And then they entered into their final embrace as one.

Queen Lucia would discover the scene and take Amani as her own. After a decade of rebuilding and occupation, Queen Lucia would tell Princess Amani of her origin and what happened to her parents. And when she came of age, Queen Amani the wise of Hyrule, would visit her parents' graves. She would say a simple prayer for their souls. Knowing that somehow, someway, they were watching over her.

Together.

**Thanks for reading. I wanted to try something new and I hope you guys appreciated it. As always, I would like to hear reviews. Take care, and you may see more stories like this.**


End file.
